Powertip PC1602F
Just wanted to leave a warning that seems to flood all arduino users who had the misfortune of buying this LCD...Doesnt work with Arduino under 4 bits( theres quite a few hundreds of people stating it
).-
Some people seem to have got it to work under 8 bits, so you know ( I havent bothered to try it myself, as dont think it worth it on a character LCD 16x2...its actually kinda ridiculous ), so not the best LCD for starters or newbies.
Just wanted to leqave the ALERT HERE !!
Also known as PC1602LRS from powertip.
Could you provide some more information about these problems. Which library was being used for example.
Don
I have a few of these LCD's and use them with no problem on the standard library with Arduino/4bit. The pins are in a different position to what some images show on here for other 16x2's but the Powertip datasheet helps with that.
With "quite a few hundreds of people stating" that they are having problems it should be easy for the OP to provide the information I asked for earlier.
Don
I've used those LCDs in four-bit mode without any problems. I didn't use an Arduino, though.
floresta:
With "quite a few hundreds of people stating" that they are having problems it should be easy for the OP to provide the information I asked for earlier.Don
Easy= Just google it and you will see it same as i did.
Mind you, its is the Powertip model i mention and not just 1602f.
But now you mention the old 4 bit library, i will have to try it. I thought that the new one completely replaced te old 4 bit Lib. as the page states.
But now i will have to try it.
Regarding the diff Pin configuration, i am quite aware of that ( it is 15,16 and only then 1 to 14).
But, as i said, considering you say you have several working i will have to try with the 4 bit library. I know of it working under 8 bit, and with other uC's ( like PIC, etc), but lots of people encountered troubles with it.
Thanks( ill post the results under the 4bit library)
but lots of people encountered troubles with it.
I would still appreciate some links to specific locations that mention problems. I was not able to find them when I looked for them previously.
If you won't post the links then can you post the specific google search phrase that I can use to bring up some examples?
You have made some pretty serious accusations about a specific product that may or may not be justified. Virtually all of the LCD problems that I have seen here, and I have seen a few, have been due to improper connections and/or improper code.
What kinds of problems are you (and the others) having? If you would provide some examples then we may be able to determine if there really is a problem with the display.
Don
i will have to try with the 4 bit library
Are you referring to this library? http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Code/LCD4BitLibrary
Don
floresta:
i will have to try with the 4 bit library
Are you referring to this library? http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Code/LCD4BitLibrary
Don
http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1262531462/all
http://luckylarry.co.uk/arduino-projects/arduino-getting-my-lcd-screen-to-work/
http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1280579758
http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1274449376
http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1262531462/31
Ill just stop here, as theres is quite a long list,still...ENOUGH ?!?
floresta:
i will have to try with the 4 bit library
Are you referring to this library? http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Code/LCD4BitLibrary
Don
And yes that seems to be the library several of them mention that ends up working. Only more recently i noticed that might be the solution( though havent tried it myself). I ended up buying another 1602 but that works( diff brand and model as if my memory is not letting me down, is the 1602B.
Reason it didnt pushed me to try it is that says on the page that it was made obsolete by the replacement new LiquidCrystal.h. So for those reasons, i never got to try it. BUT, i will have to just for the sake of complete information here.
As you can see on one of those posts, he even ended up burning the ATMEGA chip of his arduino.
So, i though id post the alert here, as we all know the insistence in following the old maxim- If everything ekse fails, read the instructions( in this case datasheet lol). So, for youngsters and newcomers, following blindly the endless tutorials out there will risk them to burn the chip, as not only the pins have a diff unusual disposition, but also the fact the new revised library LiquidCrystal wont work. Just though would save a lot of them a lot of hassle( a lot of hours and frustration, specially as i knew i was doing it all correctly). So, no it wasnt BAD CONNECTIONS, etc as it normally tends to be the usual culprit.
Anyway, as soon as i try the older 4 bit one, ill post the results as it seems the only way out( or at least my last resource)
Four out of the five links you posted were not in English but from what I can tell at least one of them had problems with the non-standard but well documented pin numbering. This would be a problem if you are trying to blindly follow Fritzing type diagrams.
The English thread was dated in 2009, before Arduino 0017 introduced the current LiquidCrystal library. I believe that his problem turned out to be pins that were not soldered - and that is most likely what caused him to burn up his Arduino as well.
Don't even think about using the old LCD4bit library. If you don't understand this: "An old 4-bit LCD library (now redundant)" or this: "Do not use this library" or this: "This was an unofficial, unmaintained Arduino library", then you should download the library and read the comments that are included with the source code. Even a non-technical person who does not understand any programming language can tell from those comments that the author of the code was not at all familiar with the LCD controller. Like many others he seemed to have hacked together some code that ran with his particular LCD module and published it for the world to see.
Why don't you just follow this tutorial Arduino Tutorial - connecting a parallel LCD and get your LCD working like just about everyone else has been able to do? If you have problems then post a picture that shows your connections and we can go from there.
Don
floresta:
Four out of the five links you posted were not in English but from what I can tell at least one of them had problems with the non-standard but well documented pin numbering. This would be a problem if you are trying to blindly follow Fritzing type diagrams.The English thread was dated in 2009, before Arduino 0017 introduced the current LiquidCrystal library. I believe that his problem turned out to be pins that were not soldered - and that is most likely what caused him to burn up his Arduino as well.
Don't even think about using the old LCD4bit library. If you don't understand this: "An old 4-bit LCD library (now redundant)" or this: "Do not use this library" or this: "This was an unofficial, unmaintained Arduino library", then you should download the library and read the comments that are included with the source code. Even a non-technical person who does not understand any programming language can tell from those comments that the author of the code was not at all familiar with the LCD controller. Like many others he seemed to have hacked together some code that ran with his particular LCD module and published it for the world to see.
Why don't you just follow this tutorial Arduino Tutorial - connecting a parallel LCD and get your LCD working like just about everyone else has been able to do? If you have problems then post a picture that shows your connections and we can go from there.
Don
Just for the record- Im quite educated in electronics, just so you know !! So i can assure you that was well connected as wires go... Because i did read the datasheet from beginning ( its an habit i developed many years ago after burning an OTA) .
And dont you find weird the pattern of everyone having problems with the Liquid Crystal library with the exact same LCD ?!? I had connected others, even others salvaged from old appliances, and just by replacing the LCD with another i knew it worked while everything else stayed the same( mind the fact i wasnt using the lighting for it: 15 and 16, so i just needed to move it two holes ahead) i got others to work. So, i understand what you was trying to say, but i think i "proved" to you that wasnt being dumb at all !! Clear on that?!?
and maybe if you had taken the time to read all those posts ( and theres a few dozens more, mind) you will see there is a pattern ! Even in the fact that they only got it to work( at least some, and we are talking about recent events on some of them) with the old lib.
Anyway- My intention was just to save people some hassle, if so !!